Performers
Senior Students and Alumni

Page 2
Teja Badami is a seventh grader from Pleasant Hills, Pittsburgh. She has been learning Bharatanatyam under the patronage of Smt. Nandini Mandal at Nandanik Dance Academy since Jan 1999. Teja performed her Arangetram on May 20, 2006 when she was eleven
years old. Teja has performed group and solo dances at cultural events in Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Detroit. Teja recently performed Bharatanatyam dances in the Uthsav 2006 competition held at Monroeville, Pittsburgh. Teja also learns the Nava Nritya at Nandanik.Teja
has been playing the piano since the age of five and has won many Piano composition competitions at the State level. She won a first
place award in the classical division.

 

Debtirtho Dipon Ghosh is a sophomore, majoring in Physics and Biology with a minor in French, at Carnegie Mellon University. He has been representing Nandanik Dance Academy in several annual public programs held in the Pittsburgh region. He has participated in the two commercial productions: "Tomari Maatrir Konya: Daughter of Earth"–as a village boy and as the queen's messenger and in "Chitrangada:
In Quest of Truth"–in the lead role of Arjun, and is slated to take the lead role of Bajrasen in the upcoming Nandanik production: "Shyama: The Royal Courtesan." Dipon has also been part of the Nandanik Dance Academy's team performing at several national forums: Rabindra Mela (July 2003) and North American Bengali Conferences (NABC) in 2004 and in 2005. At the Academy, Dipon is a fifth year student in Bharatanatyam, fourth year student in Lokanritya, and fourth year student in Navanritya. He has attended several workshops, sponsored by NDA, in Manipuri, Katthak, and Bharatanatyam dance styles. Dipon has also trained under Guru Kalamandalam Venkitt and Guru Preetha Venkitt of Uma Kalalayam, Kolkata, India. Dipon enjoys assisting guru Nandini Mandal in teaching Bharatanatyam, Navanritya, and Lokanritya during her regular classes. Dipon has also been taking singing lessons from Guru Ms. Banani Ghosh of New Jersey. He loves to act and has appeared in numerous roles in Bengali plays performed in Pittsburgh. Dipon loves to play soccer, football, and cricket.

Mohini Walavalkar is a gifted student at Fort Couch Middle School. She has been learning Bharatanatyam at Nandanik Dance Academy for the last seven years. She is also learning Folk Dance and Nava Nritya at Nandanik. Mohini has represented Nandanik in many dance programs over the last seven years. She has been a part of Nandanik productions such as Tomari Maatir Konya, Chitrangada, and will be taking part in the forthcoming production of Shyama.